Photos of the Week

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s gallery includes images from a variety of public protests and demonstrations related to religion and ethics, from Athens to Jerusalem to Karachi.

An abortion rights activist with a Venus symbol painted on her face listens to a speech outside of Congress after the presentation of an abortion bill in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 6, 2018. Under heavy pressure by women’s groups that have taken to the streets in large numbers in recent years, more than 70 legislators presented an abortion bill that will be first be discussed in several committees of the lower chamber. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Greek Orthodox priests lead a march to the Greek parliament following a rally opposing the release of new school books for religious studies, in Athens, on March 4, 2018. About 2,000 people, including many Greek Orthodox priests and bishops, protested against new school books they claim endanger faith in Orthodox Christianity, Greece’s official religion. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)

Sri Lankan soldiers and police personnel stand near a vandalized building in Digana, a suburb of Kandy, Sri Lanka, on March 6, 2018. Buddhist mobs swept through the town on Monday, burning at least 11 Muslim-owned shops and homes. Sri Lanka’s president declared a state of emergency Tuesday amid fears that anti-Muslim attacks in the central hill town could spread. (AP Photo/Pradeep Pathiran)

A Pakistani acid attack victim, center, takes part in a rally to mark International Women’s Day in Karachi, Pakistan, on March 8, 2018. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Ultra orthodox Jewish boys join a military draft protest and block an entrance to Jerusalem on March 8, 2018. Israel has compulsory military service for most Jewish men, but the ultra-Orthodox, whose political parties enjoy an outsized role in the country’s coalition politics, have secured exemptions. Authorities still require ultra-Orthodox men to register for the draft, something the protesters gathered to oppose. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Pope Francis reviews an image of Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero during a private audience granted to participants in a pilgrimage from El Salvador at the Vatican, in a Oct. 30, 2015 photo. Pope Francis has recently cleared the way for Romero to be made a saint, declaring that a churchman who stood up for the poorest of the poor in the face of right-wing oppression should be a model for Catholics today. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Shinto female attendants come out of the shrine past votive paper lanterns at Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo, on March 7, 2018. Kanda Myojin is the home shrine of the Kanda Festival, one of Tokyo’s top Shinto festivals. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, right, accompanies the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, centre, as they view The Birmingham Quran manuscript – one of the earliest surviving records of the Quran, written in Hijazi, and radiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 AD – at a private meeting at Lambeth Palace, London, on March 8, 2018. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)